Former mayor of Greece's 2nd largest city has life sentence for corruption reduced to 12 years

THESSALONIKI, Greece – A Greek court has reduced the prison sentence for the former mayor of the country's second largest city, finding him guilty of embezzling more than €17 million ($23 million) in city funds.

On appeal, the Thessaloniki court on Monday reduced the sentence from life to 12 years in prison for Vassilis Papageorgopoulos, a 67-year-old former champion sprinter who was mayor from 1999-2010. Papageorgopoulos, who has been in prison since February 2013, denies the charges.

The court also reduced the life sentences for the municipality's former general secretary, Michalis Lemoussias, and former treasurer Panagiotis Saxonis. Lemoussias was sentenced to 13 years and three months for complicity in embezzlement and complicity in forgery, while Saxonis was sentenced to 20 ½ years for embezzlement, money laundering and forgery.